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If the two sides do come to an agreement, the Tigers would likely send over Porcello (4.59 ERA, 2.4 K/BB in 176 1/3 innings last season) as well as shortstop Jhonny Peralta. The Tigers picked up Peralta's $6 million option for the 2013 season, after which he will become a free agent.

If Baltimore does acquire Peralta, they would likely shift him back to third base, where he played most of 2009 and 2010. Peralta hit .239/.305/.384 (85 OPS+) in 585 plate appearances with Detroit last season.

1. The O's would get Porcello. 2. The Orioles could slide Machado over to SS where he belongs. 3. Hardy and Peralta are pretty similar players and Peralta would not be a major downgrade if he is one at all.

For me that trade makes a whole more sense if we expanded it to include Jim Johnson and Nick Castellanos.

The Tigers are clearly going all in for 2013 which is why they would want Hardy instead of Peralta, a player they seem to have lost confidence in. Since they still lack an closer and have ABSOLUTELY NO intention of opening the season with an untested rookie in that role despite what they have said; Johnson would be another must have. I haven't forgotten that Rafael Soriano is still out there, but I think even Mike Ilitch would have reservations at his asking price and the loss of the draft pick to sign him.

If we trade Hardy we would need a 3B or a SS in 2014. Schoop may be ready to fill one of those roles, but he may also be needed to play 2B. Castellanos could be our 3B of the future leaving Schoop to play 2B.

I consider Peralta to be a throw in so the trade would essentially be Porcello and Castellanos for Hardy and JJ. The Tigers get their "now" and we get our future.

Seeing Hardy go would be bittersweet. I love having him on the team because he's an absolute stud defensive SS, is a likeable good character guy, and has great pop for a SS, but the smart thing to do would be to sell high. He's got a reasonable contract, he's coming off a gold glove season, he's coming off a down offensive year in which he still hit over 20 homeruns (not many SS's can say that). It's easy to forget that he's only played in over 150 games twice in his entire career. Also, important to note that Peralta would be going from pitcher friendly Comerica to hitter friendly OPACY, and Hardy vica versa.

I would love to see Johnson/Castellanos included in the deal but even without them I would still be fine with that move.

I was thinking about posting a thread about our third basemen of the future. At the moment, I guess it looks like Machado will be out third basemen for the next two years. Then, ideally, Machado moves back to SS, but then we have a hole at third. Who is our best third base prospect? Esposito? Good grief. We have organizational guys that can play third in Wheeler, Waring, Valencia, Britton, and Kelly. But I don't think any of them are going to make big impacts in the majors. Schoop should stay at second consdiering we don't have a solution there once B-Rob leaves. Trading for Castellanos/Gyorko would be nice. IMO, the Rangers aren't giving up Mike Olt considering Cruz and Murphy are set to hit free agency next year. They'll find somewhere for him to play. Castellanos is about 2 years away and Gyorko could probably play now. Not the best trade suggester but here you go:1. Brian Matusz, Xavier Avery, and our compensation pick for Jedd Gyorko. This would basically make JJ Hardy expendable.2. Jim Johnson and JJ Hardy for Rick Porcello, Nick Castellanos, and Jhonny Peralta.